Kehlani, the 30-year-old Oakland artist known for their neo-soul and hip-hop bangers, won the first two Grammys of their career last night. They’re also receiving attention for their spirited public rejection of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s actions in the US.
While accepting the first of their awards last night — best R&B performance for “Folded” — the first song of their career to reach Billboard’s Top 10, Kehlani spoke out against ICE well before several other bigger names would do the same, including Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish.
“I hope everybody’s inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on, and I’mma leave this and say “Fuck ICE,”” they said.
Kehlani, wearing a sheer black gown by Valdrin Sahiti embellished with a white pin reading “ICE out,” also spoke out against ICE on the red carpet. “We’re too powerful of a group to all be in a room at the same time and not make some kind of a statement in our country,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.
The pin, part of the Be Good-ICE Out campaign honoring Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and other Americans who have been harmed by ICE actions, was worn by other artists, including music legends Joni Mitchell and Carole King, young superstar Olivia Rodrigo, Mexican-American artist Becky G, and Brandi Carlile, Finneas, and Eilish.
Kehlani went on to win a Grammy for Best R&B song, also for “Folded.” In that acceptance speech, they thanked their mother for adopting them.
“You could have done whatever you wanted in your 20s, but instead you chose to take care of me, to put me in all the programs and all the things that would feed who I am today; so mommy I owe you everything,” they said.
Kehlani attended the Oakland School for the Arts in the 2010s before transferring to Berkeley High. While in high school, under the name Kehlani Parrish, they performed in a band called Poplyfe, which reached the finals of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” At the time, judge Sharon Osbourne said the singer had a “star quality.”
The artist, who has said they’re Native American, Filipino, Black, and white, has previously spoken out against violence by immigration enforcement agents as well as against the war on Gaza by Israeli forces.
In a video in 2024 for their song “Next 2 U,” the phrase “Long Live the Intifada” appeared, which some Jewish people claimed was antisemitic, though the phrase “intifada” is seen by many Palestinians as a call for non-violent liberation. As a result of that video, some of their concerts were canceled or protested by pro-Israel advocates.
In reply to the cancellation of a headlining gig at Cornell, Kehlani said they were not anti-Jewish, but instead were against the “genocide” of Palestinians.
“I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women. That’s what I’m anti,” they said.
Other artists also called out ICE at last night’s Grammys, including Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who told Variety that he was wearing an orange whistle on his tuxedo to support the people of Minneapolis, who have used whistles to alert immigrants to the presence of federal agents.
“A week ago, when Alex Pretti was shot and killed in the manner he was shot and killed, I was pretty sure I didn’t have the strength to come out here to L.A. and be a part of all this,” Vernon said to the entertainment magazine. “Then I started seeing the people coming together in Minneapolis and organizing without a central government. I saw them being dissident. I just want to honor them and amplify what they’re doing.”
On their official Instagram account, Kehlani shared videos of other performers calling out ICE from the Grammy stage.
Another Oakland musician made a Grammy appearance. Raphael Saadiq, the brother of D’Wayne Wiggins, performed during a memorial segment for Wiggins, D’Angelo, and Roberta Flack.
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